Before dawn all was once more quiet in the house. The house spider had gone to his dark place, and the cockroaches had hidden in their cracks.
The poor cockroaches had a hard time; for, besides the wall spiders, they had another enemy in the night lizard that dwelt in the house. These lizards also had a great gift to suit their mode of life. They were very quick, and ran fast. During the day they hid themselves between pieces of bark. They could see so well that nothing escaped their eyes, even in the darkness, and their color was exactly the color of the bark walls, so that they were not to be seen by the cockroaches upon which they lived. Like the spider, they stood perfectly motionless while waiting for prey.
It is a good thing for the human beings that there are house spiders and house lizards to eat up the cockroaches, otherwise men could not live in their homes.
CHAPTER XXX
THE NYOI, OR WASP, AND THE IBOBOTI
A wasp, putting her head out of one of the windows of her nest which was hanging on the branch of a tree in the forest on the border of a prairie, exclaimed one day:—
“How beautiful the weather is now! How hard it rained last night! I could hear the rain falling on our roof; but we have constructed our dwelling with so much skill that no water can come into our abode. What a comfortable home we have built for ourselves! It seems so cosey and warm in the combs and cells where we raise our young!
“Outside, now, the sun is shining, and it is very warm. This is a fine day to get my living, for there will be plenty of prey. I am hungry! I am hungry!” This wasp was beautifully striped. When on the wing, she was very graceful in her movements; her long thin legs were as fine as a silk thread, and in flying she was so swift that she was out of sight in an instant, while her eyes at the same time took in everything at a glance.
No one but the creatures upon whom she preyed could ever guess that this beautiful wasp was so fierce and full of fight.
The wasp said to herself: “Great gifts have been given to me with which to get my living. My long legs are fine weapons, and help me to prevent my victims from moving when I attack them; and my sharp nippers cut so well; and when I fly I can pick out at once the creatures I like best to eat. I am dainty in my taste. How delicious and juicy the spiders are! I hope I shall catch one very soon, for I am hungry.”
The wasp kept on flying, covering a large space in her sweep. Finally she saw in the distance the village where lived the house spider who had such a fight with the cockroach and who had succeeded in killing him and eating him up.